Gary Lai of Blue Origin gave the company’s first public presentation at the Next Generation Space Researchers Conference in Boulder yesterday. The secretive Kent, Wash.-based company – founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos – is developing its New Shepard vehicle for suborbital missions.
Jeff Foust posted notes on the presentation via Twitter. The key points include:
- Crew of 3 or more for flights of 325,000 feet with rapid turnaround;
- Propulsion module and crew capsule designed to separate before landing;
- New Shepard doesn’t necessarily look like earlier Goddard vehicle;
- About 3 minutes of microgravity time on each flight.